• History Project

      As part of their Minnesota History curriculum, sixth grade social studies students in our community do a big history project on a place in our city.  They do research, learn about the history of the site they choose,  and then create a trifold display.  They might even do a…

  • AWANA Cars

    The AWANA Grand Prix at our church was last Wednesday, which meant that there was a frenzy of car building activities during the early part of last week.  This was the first year that Mr. SP was too old to enter the official race, but he did build a car…

  • At the Ballet

    Last night I took YaYa, The Banana and Mr. TOF to a performance of the Minnesota Ballet.   The Banana heard that they were doing Firebird this spring when she went to The Nutcracker at Christmas with a friend, and she reminded me many, many times to get tickets.  YaYa…

  • Colorful

    It’s always a joy to see what new colorful combination this girl puts together every morning.  She believes that matching clothes are “dull” and “boring” and wears a new creation each and every day.  It’s always joyful and never the same.  She loves being unique, out of the box,  extraordinary.…

  • Overheard

    Dr. Peds looked sternly at two kidlets, sent them off to complete a chore together and said ominously,   “Your fates are tied together.  Good luck.”

  • Conversations: Movies

    The Banana had just arrived home from a fun birthday party. YaYa:  Hey!  You’re back!  How was the party? The Banana:  Great! YaYa:  What did you do? The Banana:  Oh, we had presents, ate dinner, had cake, played a fun game, and then watched a movie. YaYa:  What movie did…

  • At the Swim Meet

    On Tuesday Mr. SP swam in his last middle school swim meet of the season, the all city meet, which happened to be held at our middle school, and by some crazy stroke of luck everything worked out with my teaching schedule, and I was able to go and see…

  • Conversations: Cat Care

    I was sitting on the couch, snuggling a few minutes with Mr. TOF before it was time for him to head out to catch the school bus.  The cat crawled up and started to settle in next to us because the cat loves people on the couch, and the cat…

  • On Growing and Groceries

    This kid is growing at a preposterous rate.  Like two of his other siblings who are also in the middle of huge growth spurts, this one has quite the appetite.  He could probably eat five full meals and twenty snacks in a day.  I feel like I”m in the grocery…

  • In Line

      All these characters were in line for ice cream at the Cold Treats Stand.  The King was buying.  The people in the back had a long wait, and at $5.00 per ice cream cone, the final total was, well, exorbitant.  The Cold Treats Stand offered even more than 31…